FAIRFIELD, Calif. — The city of Fairfield will pay more than $1.7 million to settle a gender discrimination and harassment suit filed by Battalion Chief Jessica Fleshman, the first woman to hold that rank in the Fairfield Fire Department.
The agreement, reached in October, includes no admission of liability. Fleshman, a 20-year department veteran, alleged in a 2023 lawsuit that her historic promotion was met with internal resistance, NBC Bay Area reported.
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Fleshman’s lawsuit claims she endured harassment and retaliation that fostered a hostile work environment, one that “undermined her authority, disrupted her duties and derailed her career.”
Fleshman, a former U.S. Marine, rose through the ranks to become battalion chief in 2021 and lead department training, a promotion she says soon sparked turmoil.
“I was in my chief’s office two or three times a week having to answer for some allegation brought forth against me,” Fleshman said. “It’s well over a hundred [complaints], a couple hundred … My male counterparts weren’t treated the way that I was.”
Fleshman said complaints ranged from trivial, like wearing sunglasses during training, to serious allegations that she endangered crews by holding drills in extreme heat. She was also labeled “too direct” and blamed for “hurt feelings,” but says every complaint was found unfounded and she was never disciplined. The department declined to comment on the outcomes.
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In 2022, Fleshman reported the harassment to the chief, but city records show the complaint wasn’t sustained and no one was disciplined. A second complaint in 2024 was also deemed unfounded, according to city records.
Fairfield Fire Chief John Sturdee told NBC Bay Area that independent investigators reviewed Fleshman’s complaints and found no evidence of discrimination or a hostile work environment, adding her claims “were never proven in court.”
Fleshman said she knew suing and speaking out might end her career, but she has no regrets, arguing the fire service culture needs to change and that women are equally capable. Under the settlement, she remains on paid administrative leave until retiring next year and is teaching as an adjunct fire instructor at Solano Community College.
